Film room: Tyree Wilson steadily showing growth against Saints

2nd-year pro had arguably the best game of his career

It’s been a much slower process than the fanbase has hoped for but Tyree Wilson continues to take steps forward, and his performance in the Las Vegas Raiders’ Week 17 win over the New Orleans Saints might be his best game yet.

Wilson set a career-high with eight pressures—including a half-sack—as a pass rusher which is tied for the second-most among edge rushers last weekend heading into Monday Night Football, according to Pro Football Focus. He also earned a 74.3 run defense grade which is his second-highest of the campaign and third-best over the last two years.

While the 2023 No. 7 overall pick still has some work to do heading to live up to his draft hype, the Texas Tech product is steadily showing growth and finishing the season strong to build some momentum into 2025. So, let’s dive into his performance for this week’s film breakdown.

We’ll start with a couple of reps against the run, and there’s room for improvement on this first clip as Wilson can do a better job of finishing by making the tackle at the line of scrimmage.

However, he does a great job of recognizing the blocking scheme and using his hands to defeat the tight end’s block. That allows Wilson to get penetration and get involved in the play from the backside of the inside zone call from the Saints. Again, the finish could use some work but he at least trips up the running back to help Jonah Laulu make the tackle, who also has an excellent rep.

The clip above is a similar rep as New Orleans calls split zone or inside side where the tight end works across the formation to seal off the backside. But this one is more impressive as Wilson is going against Taliese Fuaga, who is a good run-blocking offensive tackle as a rookie.

Again, the defensive end does a good job of recognizing the blocking scheme as he moves his feet laterally to stay in his gap. Also, he uses his hands well to get extension on the block and help standup Fuaga at the line of scrimmage. Combined with sinking his hips and widening his base, that helps Wilson get a leverage advantage to fight back against pressure and avoid getting washed inside.

To finish, Wilson gets extension by locking out his outside arm so when the running back cuts into Wilson’s gap, he’s able to make the tackle for a short gain. This is a good example of the first-round pick using the length and strength that made him such a touted draft prospect.

Moving onto a few reps as a pass-rusher and we’ll see another example of Wilson putting those nearly 36-inch arms and impressive strength to good use.

He works the long-arm move with great timing and placement to make the first significant contact against Trevor Penning, the right tackle. Notice how Penning’s inside hand is never able to get to Wilson’s body, and how Wilson uses his outside hand to win the hand-fight against Penning.

That, plus a combination of impressive strength and keeping the feet moving through contact, prevents the tackle from anchoring and allows the pass rusher to collapse the pocket and win the result. As a result, the quarterback scrambles and ends up throwing the ball away because of the pressure.

Here, both defensive ends do a great job winning with their respective pass-rush moves.

K’Lavon Chaisson, who also had a good game, beats Fuaga around the edge with a hand-swipe move to get a sack. Meanwhile, Wilson has an excellent bull rush with tight hand placement on Penning’s chest and excellent leg drive after contact to collapse the pocket. Penning ends up getting air as both of his feet were off the ground after contact.

That’s a dominant rep by a pair of pass-rushers and a good example of how the Raiders won in the trenches on Sunday.

We’ll end with Wilson’s half-sack and part of what is impressive about it is he changes it up and wins with something other than a power move.

He does a solid job of setting it up getting to square on Penning, who likely is expecting the bull rush and starts to brace for it by slowing down to help anchor. Then, Wilson flashes the long arm move and Penning takes the bait by trying to club Wilson’s arm down. As a result, a short edge is created and Wilson changes speeds to get to the outside, finishing with a good rip move to get a sack.

Also, take a look at Tre’von Moehrig picking the guard on the line game with Adam Butler to free up Butler for the sack! That’s not something you see from a safety very often.